We put in an offer for a house in the SF Bay area for $1000 over the asking price. We were the only offer at the offer deadline. Our agent was allowed to present the offer to the seller and her agent (a Coldwell Banker agent), but they gave her a hard time, questioning the truthfulness of her statements and her representation of our financial worth. We believe that the questions were discriminatory. Our mortgage broker called the seller's agent and clarified the financial matters but several hours later the seller's agent called our agent to let her know that the seller was not accepting our offer (even though she had no other offers) because she wanted more money. We think she had been hoping for one of the bidding wars that are common in this area or that she did not want to sell her house to us because of her assumptions of our race (but she did not want to say that outright. Any suggestions for complaints, etc.?

-- Dorothy Cox (acabral@pacbell.net), August 26, 2000

Answers

Hello Dorothy,

My Name is John Perkins and I am a Realtor working for Coldwell- Banker. Here is a short answer to your issue. I have experienced racism first hand in presenting offers on behalf of my buyers who come from other cultures. For this matter I have changed my style of presenting if I have any doubts about the sellers attitude and prejudice towards people. So this may have been an issue for you.

On your offer not being accepted. "Terms" in your contract can also have an effect on whether an offer is accepted or not. For instance, if you have a contengency to sell a home first, or have a loan contengency. Some sellers are funny about "how much" they expect in price and the terms they are willing to accept.

A question I ask the seller is "What would you like?" Then I can close the gap in an agreement. Hopefully your Coldwell-Banker Representative tried everything possible to find out more information about the rejection of agreement.

I hope this has been some help and again Sorry.

John Perkins, http://www.HomeSpecial.com

-- John Perkins (Perkins@Home.com), February 09, 2001.